Quentin Tarantino sues Gawker over leak of movie script

In court documents filed on Monday, writer-director Tarantino claimed Gawker Media promoted and disseminated "unauthorised downloadable copies of the leaked unreleased complete screenplay. The filmmaker is seeking more than $1 million in damages.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is suing media outlet Gawker for copyright infringement in a US district court in Los Angeles, after the website published links to download the script for his latest movie, titled The Hateful Eight.

The filmmaker is seeking more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit also names website AnonFiles.com, which the Gawker article linked to, and which contains downloads of Tarantino's 146-page script.

The website allows users to upload and download files anonymously, and in its terms and conditions it says users can be held responsible for "illegal and/or copyright infringement material." It adds "do not upload anything that violates local law. Illegal files will be removed."

As of Monday, Gawker's story, first published on January 23, was still live along with links to download the original script on AnonFiles.com. Gawker founder Nick Denton did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

Tarantino, 50, is known for his edgy, gritty films that fuse dark humor with violence, including 1994's Pulp Fiction and 2012's Django Unchained, both of which earned him Oscar wins for best original screenplay.

The lawsuit details how Tarantino discovered that a copy of his latest screenplay had been leaked publicly on January 21, which he addressed in an interview with film industry website Deadline Hollywood.

Tarantino said he was "very, very depressed" at the leak and scrapped his plans to make the movie, saying that he would publish the script instead.